Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Why Nuclear Talks With Iran Will (Always) Fail

The Iran File

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran's Supreme Leader considers himself the chief guardian of the Islamic Republic, and his dark views of the West, directed primarily at the United States, prevents him from signing any deal to limit nuclear production. In the LA Times articles, Khamenei said that "his country is not seeking nuclear weapons, but that no world power could stop its access to an atomic bomb if it intended to build one."Photo Credit: AP/Office Of the Supreme LeaderSource: LA Times

An excellent op-ed piece, by Hussein Banai, inThe Los Angeles Times implicitly explains why this round of nuclear talks with the six world powers failed, and why any future talks are unlikely to succeed. It has everything to do with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his dark views of the West, the United States in particular; Israel is caught in this feud, as the sole representative western democracy in the region. Banai writes:

But of course the real source of Khamenei's seemingly rejectionist attitude is not the bullying approach of the West toward Iran's nuclear program. After all, he also routinely undermined attempts at rapprochement between the Khatami and Clinton administrations at a time when worries about Iran's nuclear program did not exist. Rather, he is increasingly paranoid about the implications of a "grand bargain" with the United States for his privileged position as the chief interpreter of the ideals of the Islamic Republic.

Simply put, normalization of relations between Iran and the United States would deprive Khamenei and the deeply invested cohort of radical ideologues around him of a powerful justification for their arbitrary rule.

Continued enmity with the United States has time and again proved to be a convenient excuse for silencing the reformist opposition (as in the case of the 2009 Iranian presidential election, which has simply become known as "the sedition") and managing the increasingly fragmented conservative establishment.

The internal religious politics of Iran cannot be ignored, these playing a prominent and overarching role in Iran's governance. Its desire to obtain nuclear weapons is as much about thumbing its nose at the great powers as it is about showing the international community that it won't be pushed around. It would take something grand taking place inside Iran to free its people from such restrictive and destructive views.The chances of this happening soon are regrettably slim.

2 comments:

According to MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 325, “Former President Ali Akhbar Rafsanjani, in the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) sermon given on December 14, 2001, said that if one day the world of Islam comes to possess nuclear weapons, Israel could be destroyed. Rafsanjani said that the use of a nuclear bomb against Israel would leave nothing standing, but that retaliation, no matter how severe, would merely do damage to the world of Islam.”

Rafsanjani was calling for genocide. He said he was willing to suffer severe retaliation, as any good terrorist would.

It's totally irrational, of course, which explains much, as does the leadership of Iran's willingness to allow the possibility that its own citizens might face death & destruction. All this can be avoidable.

All comments ought to reflect the post in question. All comments are moderated; and inappropriate comments, including those that attack persons, those that use profanity and those that are hateful, will not be tolerated. So, keep it on target, clean and thoughtful. This is not a forum for personal vendettas or to create a toxic environment. The chief idea is to engage, to discuss and to critique issues. Doing so within acceptable norms will make the process more rewarding and healthy for everyone.﻿ Accordingly, anonymous comments will not be posted.

Copyscape

Total Pageviews (since 2010)

Yiddish Sites (listed since August 2017)

The Internet has dozens of sites dedicated to Yiddish language, culture and music. Here are some that I have found noteworthy. I will add to the list regularly. If you have a Yiddish site or know of one, please contact me:

Yiddish Book Center, dedicated to rescuing, translating, and disseminating Yiddish books and presenting innovative educational programs that broaden understanding of modern Jewish identity;

Yiddishkayt, a site based in Los Angeles that believes that yiddishkayt—the culture, language, art, and worldviews of Eastern European Jews, as they lived in Europe and in the places they settled—has a crucial role to play in our world today;

Yiddish Playscripts, a resource of the U.S. Library of Congress that contains 77 unpublished manuscripts of Yiddish theatre;

Yiddish Poetry, Yiddish poetry with translations in several languages; based in Melbourne, Australia;